I reached a 100% after around 26 hours of gameplay, and I'm now in the process of getting the last 3 achievements for steam (Because SoM has actually completeable achievements, unlike a ton of other games). Here some thoughts for those interested:
Everyone and their dog is saying it, and I agree, the game is basically the offspring of an affair between the newer Batman and Assassins Creed games. And I think it takes the best of both games. Combat flows nicely and gets incredibly varied with upgrades. Early-on you're pretty much forced to employ stealth, as you start out pretty weak. But Talion gets progressively stronger with each upgrade.
This is handled pretty nice, altough the regular Uruk's become almost trivial later on. This is somewhat balanced out with new stronger enemy types (Berserkers who counter regular attacks, Shieldbearers who cant be countered) and the Captains. But I think the game could have profited from 2 or 3 more stronger enemy types. Still, the combat is one of the, if not THE best part of the game. Throwing Uruks off bridges, feeding them to beasts, setting them on fire, poisoning their Grog or even rallying them against each other is really tons of fun.
Then we have the Captains and Warchiefs. The Nemesis System feels great, and I want to provide an example of the feeling and immersion it creates:
One of my first deaths in the game was to a regular Uruk. I overestimated myself and cause an alarm in one of the Strongholds and was promptly cut down by reinforcements. The guy that killed me was promoted. His name was Morg, and he got the fitting title Skull-Crasher. Not really creative, but we are talking about Uruks, not Elves. When an Uruk or a Captain kills you, it gives the guy a "Revenge"-marker, meaning that you earn more stuff for killing him. So right after getting back up, I went and looked for Morg. After gathering Intel from a slave, it was revealed that Morg was actually weak to stealth finishers. Checking the map, I found that Morg was in the process of recruiting some fresh meat in the local stronghold. Cue a few dead guards and one strike from above, and Morg was laying dead at my feet. Good thing too, not only was he the bodyguard of the Warchief next on my hit list, he also had some nasty strengths, namely poisoned throwing axes and the fact that counters will not work on his attacks.
Since the Warchief didnt have any bodyguards left, I promptly started the mission to take him down. Sadly, there was a surprise waiting for me. Morg was still alive, his wound covered by a new metal plate that someone used to repair the wound in his head. While that was pretty cool to behold, the two of them promptly cleaned the floor with my sorry ass, as I wasnt prepared for two big shots with unblockable attacks. Morg survived another assassination atempt later on, but was finally decapitated by a rival captain.
Stories like this happen quite frequently, and I do think they add a ton of flavour to the world.
Finally, something that is unlocked around midway trough the game:
After reaching the second area in the game, you unlock the "Brand" ability, allowing you to brainwash Uruks into following you. This adds another layer of gameplay, allowing you to stealth into a stronghold, brainwash all the archers on the towers and then use them to help you kill a captain or a warchief. It also provides access to the "combat brand" upgrade, allowing you to turn Uruks to your side in combat whenever your hit streak is charged. This can come in handy when you're hopelessly outnumbered.
You can also turn captains and warchiefs. Allowing you to get your very own slave to the top. You can order them to murder other Uruks, or even arrange a war between two Warchiefs, which makes killing them easier. All in all, it's a pretty interesting feature.
Now, the stuff I did not like that much:
As i mentioned above, Talion gets pretty freaking overpowered late game. The game tries to balacne this by making the Captains stronger, and adding more Berserkers and Shieldbearers, but there are 3 specific abilities that I find way too overpowered.
For every weapon (sword, bow and dagger), there's a form of ultimate ability that you can buy with the mission currency. Each basically activates a god mode for 20 seconds. The sword ability gives you unlimited executions, the bow unlimited focus (which slows down time) and unlimited arrows, and the dagger turns you invisible enabling unlimited stealth finishers. Once you have those, and if you're willing to use them, the game is basically over. Luckily, they are very very late game, but what was supposed to be the penultimate bossfight became a joke because of them.
I also think the ranged combat isn't handled that well. It's basically a slightly overpowered V.A.T.S., and if you activate the right runes, you can kill between 4-10 Uruks in slow-mo before they know what's up. I'd rather have a system that actually requires skill to hit something, and add some more variation instead of getting 6 free headshots before every fight.
The story also falls VERY flat towards the end.
The game basically pulls the same shit as Space Marine, and turns the final fight into 3 quicktime events followed by a cliffhanger. The penultimate Boss is also just "sneak up to the dude 3 times -> win. It feels half assed for an ending, and is a bit too obvious with the whole "There will be DLC!"-thing.
All in all, for me it was worth the price tag. If you're unsure about buying, wait for a 75% or 50% steam sale in a few months, because it's definetely worth 20-30 bucks.
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Topic: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (Read 48946 times)